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There are many good reasons for doing version control, but in this case as it relates to the database it doesn't make any sense to me.

It would probably be a good idea to use git to version control your writing, and editing of the articles before publishing them to the db. If an article needs to be updated after being published, then write a completely new article. You'd probably want to edit the original article and add a comment which points to the updated article.

The choice between updating the original article or writing a completely new one will depend on the amount and type of changes that it needs.

There are many good reasons for doing version control, but in this case as it relates to the database it doesn't make any sense to me.

It would probably be a good idea to use git to version control your writing, and editing of the articles before publishing them to the db. If an article needs to be updated after being published, then write a completely new article. You'd probably want to edit the original article and add a comment which points to the updated article.

The choice between updating the original article or writing a completely new one will depend on the amount and type of changes that it needs.

Don't you think that a need for versioning of Articles is a sign of poor planning and writing?

It is one thing if there was a type-o or maybe a quote attributed to the wrong person or spelling of a person's name, but you don't see the New York Times going back and re-publishing articles again and again and again, right?!

That is why there are "Editors"!!

To me, it is the difference between being an amateur "blogger" and a professional Writer/Columnist/Reporter.

It sounds like we are thinking along the same lines...

Sincerely,

Debbie

P.S. When I write Articles in OpenOffice, I have a zillion versions!! But once it is deemed to be ready for the Web, historically I almost never change things short of a type-o or grammar error.

And if the "news" changes that much, then that is usually an indication it is time for a new Article...

To me, it is the difference between being an amateur "blogger" and a professional Writer/Columnist/Reporter.

I get the feeling that you know versioning is a good feature to have, but you are looking for an excuse not to have to change your design :-)

The more professional the publisher, the more important it is to have versioning. Why: if someone fixes a typo by accidently removing an entire paragraph (and that happens to pro's too) the last thing you want is for the editor to have to go into his own archives to find the paragraph and paste it back in. If the editor is not near his workstation it can take hours before he can fix the articlel which is not acceptable.
And if you're publishing legal documents it is a simple requirement that older versions must be available, it's not even debatable.

But like I said, it's perhaps more a matter of how complex the solution is. Creating a backup version requires only one trigger and a table and you will get an automatic version for every change in a record, no extra work on your part at all.
And I can't imagine that calling up an older version in your application is very difficult.